John Buse, MD, PhD, co-authored a study showing that the common diabetes drug metformin substantially decreased the risk of developing long COVID after infection from SARS-CoV-2. The clinical trial was led by researchers at the University of Minnesota.
In a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota researchers and colleagues found that metformin, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, prevents the development of long COVID.
The study, called COVID-OUT, investigated if early outpatient COVID-19 treatment with metformin, ivermectin or fluvoxamine could prevent long COVID. Long COVID is a chronic illness that can affect up to 10% of people who have had COVID-19.
“Not only did we demonstrate that metformin, an inexpensive and safe treatment, may prevent the development of long COVID in many people, but we validated that long COVID is a real disease in that a 14-day treatment can reduce the risk of long COVID symptoms and a doctor’s diagnosis over many months,” said John Buse, MD, PhD, the Verne S. Caviness Distinguished Professor of Medicine and senior associate dean for clinical research at the UNC School of Medicine.
Read more about the study at the UNC SOM newsroom.